(Please read this imagining that it’s a pamphlet)
Most of my friends are at that stage where doing a Master’s degree feels like the inevitable next step in their adult life. Some have already started, some are still thinking about it, and some others are asking me, “Hey, Karencita, how did you decide that? ” To be honest, I don’t think I decided anything by myself.
Almost four years ago, I wrote an article called ‘How to Make Impulsive Decisions and Make It Look Like You Thought It Through,’ and I can assure you that the title is the motto of my life and that’s how I ended up here. But, hey, it doesn’t have to be the same for you! Here, I’ll tell you some things I’ve learned from my mistakes and experiences so that you can make an informed decision. I hope you’ll find this small guide useful to determine if going to grad school is for you.
Before we start talking about good reasons to get a Graduate degree, let’s talk a little bit about the not-so-good reasons to do it.
- If your parents/family/friends/someone else insists you should do it
I know some of you will say, Bro, we’re in our mid-twenties, who is still making choices based on what their parents say? Buddy, I’m sorry to say that there are many such cases. Many such cases.
I know someone who did a Master’s on something he was completely uninterested in, just because he thought it’d be easy and would be enough to get his parents off of him saying “Son, when will you do a Master’s?”
If your parents are the kind to push and insist that you should continue studying, don’t let it affect you. It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay. The academic path of every person can look very different depending on where you’re going, and where you’re coming from. Nothing anyone can say or think about yourself can have enough weight to make you make such an important decision. And it is a really important decision to pursue a degree. This takes us to the next point:
- If you have to convince yourself and you can’t stop thinking about just not doing it
Pretty self-explanatory. I genuinely believe that, if you have to think about something a lot then it’s probably not for you. If you have to come up with a thousand reasons to convince yourself, and still no reason sounds valid enough… then why convince yourself? Maybe you just don’t need it. It’s not mandatory to continue studying, and if you’re struggling to force yourself to just register or apply for the thing, then imagine how hard it will be to force yourself to study, take exams, do coursework, attend lectures… If it’s not for you, it’s not for you and that’s the end of it.
- If you want a 2-year long vacation abroad but need a socially acceptable excuse to do it
I know that it can feel like doing a Master’s abroad is the student exchange of adult life. It’s all giggles and taking pictures at the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, or any landmark from the country of your choice, but, at the end of the day, a Master’s (or PhD) can be very demanding, both academically and economically.
Yes, sometimes it’s tempting to run away from your hometown for two years and then come home feeling so good, being a stranger now in your neighbourhood, having seen the world at a faster pace, and you’re coming now from a different place (🎵🎵🎵!!!). However, I can assure you that not everything will be as nice and sweet as you see it on the Instagram of those who left.
If the only reason you have to pursue a degree is your desire to travel, then just travel. Take 2 or 3 weeks of vacation to go on a travel-light Eurotrip, and you’re good to go. You’ll have a better time and you’ll be able to be a tourist without randomly getting a stabbing feeling in your gut because you remember you have to continue studying on Monday.
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Okay, if you’re still reading and I haven’t called you out on these 3 not so good reasons, maybe you want to do a Master’s. Good for you! Now we can move forward to the section: good reasons to pursue a Graduate degree. Disclaimer- everyone has their reasons, and yours can be very different to mine. It doesn’t mean that they’re bad if they’re the ones described above, and it doesn’t mean that they’re super good if they’re the ones below. Some decisions have to be made considering many factors, and some reasons may have more weight than others (from my perspective, reasons 4, 5 and 6 have more weight than reasons 1, 2 and 3). You can think about that on your own. Moving on:
- If you need a steppingstone to connect where you are right now to where you want to be
I like thinking about this metaphor: imagine that your career path is a stepping stone path in a lake, and the next step you want to take is too far away. You could probably jump and try to make it, but you need to judge how difficult would that jump be. If the distance is too long, maybe it would be better to add another stone in the middle, to take two short steps instead of one that is too long. That stepping stone is your graduate degree.
Maybe you did Mech Eng but you want to become a manager. In that case, your stepping stone may be an MBA. Or, in a different case, maybe you did Industrial Eng but want to focus on the biomedical industry, your stepping stone could be a Master’s in that area.
There is an infinite number of universities, programs, Master’s and PhDs that may get you closer to where you want to be. Now, the question is: how do I know if I need a degree to get closer to that point? How do I know that the things I want to learn, I need to learn in university? That takes us to the next bullet point.
- If the knowledge you’ll acquire there will be worth it
My friend Ema is working at EESA with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, and lots of research and project experience. In her Instagram stories, she always says,” You don’t always need a graduate degree to get the job you want.” Maybe that leap in your career path is not as big as you thought it would be, and maybe with your bachelor’s degree and your experience, you’ll have enough to apply for that role. Ema mentions that a good source of experience with curricular value is student competitions, internships, university projects, courses, accreditations, online workshops, and Coursera classes… a Master’s degree is not necessarily going to be the only way to obtain knowledge.
A Master’s degree will strengthen your CV, yes, but if your focus is to work in industry (and not academia, which is entirely a different world and it’s out of the scope of this paper), consider that, if you’re in a job you like and you’re seeking to grow in that job, it’s likely that the knowledge you need, you’ll obtain it by progressing in your work. If you really need a Master’s, it’s also likely that your company will sponsor it for you.
Now, if you want to make a big leap in your career, then return to bullet point 4 and think about your situation. Would it be difficult to obtain that experience or knowledge by yourself? Then, a graduate degree is probably a good option to grow in the direction you’re interested in.
- If you’re looking for a better job (in your same field of knowledge)
Maybe you’re not comfortable in your current job, or you want to change companies, but when you’re searching for jobs, you realize that every job requirement list includes at least 16 years of experience 2 Olympic medals, or a Master’s degree. In that case… yeah, there’s not much to talk about. I guess you’d need a Master’s.
I am not joking though, sometimes (sadly) the only way to get a higher-paying job is by having a graduate degree. However: if you already have a good job with a decent salary, good benefits, and a nice boss, and you’re just being greedy imagining that you’ll become a millionaire by having a Master’s degree… no, it will not happen. You better stay where you are, and probably you’ll be able to grow from there (again, the company may even pay for your degree).
But if your job does not satisfy you, maybe the degree will help you get to a better place.
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Last piece of advice (which doesn’t get its bullet point because I think it’s implicit): don’t do a graduate degree as if it were mandatory. This is a gig you can’t speedrun, and it’s not convenient for you to do a super easy four-month online Master’s degree with 2 lectures a month from a mysterious university no one has ever heard of. If you want your degree to help you grow, choose wisely. Choose something that will help you instead of dragging you down, if that makes sense. Anyway, I wish you success in anything you may pursue (and if you choose not to pursue a degree after all, I wish you success too!). Remember: you shouldn’t force yourself to do anything. No one is going to hold you at gunpoint until you choose a degree that perfectly adjusts to all your needs and interests. Take your time, choose calmly, there’s no rush and there’s no stress. Hope this helps!